


Symphony of the Cosmos

by RunawayBean



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Cute, Dancing, Fluff, IN SPACE!, Juno Steel is in Love, Kissing, No Plot/Plotless, Other, Peter Nureyev is in Love, Slow Dancing, The Aurinko Crime Family Ship of Character Development and Growth, soft, they're working on it, this is just [clenches fist] so soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23082232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunawayBean/pseuds/RunawayBean
Summary: The way Peter’s lips curl into something that’s as close to a natural smile as a man with so many masks can have makes Juno’s stomach twist. It’s beautiful. Tiny, barely there, just a whisper of a thing, but it’s beautiful all the same. The list of things Juno wouldn’t give to see it again is very short indeed.“Back at the party with Ms Nova,” Peter says, almost sounding like he’s mulling over a topic rather than properly displaying it to Juno, “You were a better dancer than I expected.”———“Our biological rhythms are the symphony of the cosmos, music embedded deep within us to which we dance, even when we can’t name the tune.”-Deepak Chopra
Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Comments: 18
Kudos: 149





	Symphony of the Cosmos

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello!
> 
> Okay alright I know I just posted something for a podcast literally two days ago, but I've fallen in love with the Penumbra Podcast and all of it's queer in space glory and I simply had to write something. That's not to mention that I couldn't sleep last night and I wrote this in literally half an hour at 1 in the morning. And, well, I haven't spell checked it as dutifully as I should, so if you see anything, let me know!
> 
> Anyway, this little drabble is my first of many dives into the Penumbra Podcast. This peice is mostly something entirely self indulgent: pointless fluff at it's finest. But of course, I liked it too much to not post it, so here we go.
> 
> No warnings apply.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> ~Nero/Cy

“Juno.”

Peter’s voice is soft, sweet, and something that Juno has only heard when it’s being used around him and him alone. He looks up from where he’d been scrolling through some article about their next target, and does his utmost to keep his cheeks from heating at how soft Peter sounds right now. He’s marginally successful, thanks only to years and years of being as unreactive as possible, and he calmly says, “What?”

The way Peter’s lips curl into something that’s as close to a natural smile as a man with so many masks can have makes Juno’s stomach twist. It’s beautiful. Tiny, barely there, just a whisper of a thing, but it’s beautiful all the same. The list of things Juno wouldn’t give to see it again is very short indeed.

“Back at the party with Ms Nova,” Peter says, almost sounding like he’s mulling over a topic rather than properly displaying it to Juno, “You were a better dancer than I expected.”

“A lady’s gotta know how to keep you on your toes, doesn’t he?” Juno raises an eyebrow.

“He does indeed.” Peter does that soft laugh that reminds Juno of ‘Rex Glass,’ “But I didn’t mean to ask after how you know how to dance so well.”

Juno’s eyebrow lifts higher. “Then what do you need to know?”

“Less of ‘something I need to know,’ and more of a ‘something I want,’ really.” Peter muses.

Had Peter’s face not been something Juno very much enjoyed admiring at all hours of the day, he would have bashed it in because Peter always builds too much suspense, only for whatever thing he’s building it for to be entirely too anticlimactic. But Juno holds himself back and instead adds a mark to his tally and awaits what the Master Thief says next.

It comes not a moment too soon:

“Would you dance with me now?”

Juno can only blink for a moment, face blank and breath steady. Then he sighs and rolls his eyes and mutters, “Really? That’s it?”

“Oh, detective, don’t look so miffed.” Peter’s own eye roll is almost audible. “Honestly, it’s not something I’ve asked to slight you. I just wish to dance with you.”

“Here. Right now.” Juno blinks at him, waiting for this to be a joke of some kind.

But Peter only gives him a look and sighs. “If you don’t want to, then I’ll retract my question. But I have to say, I would like to dance with you.”

It might be because Juno feels a little guilty for being a little rude, or it could also simply be because he was beginning to want to dance with Peter as well, but whatever the reason may be, Juno stands up and offers a hand to Peter. “If we’re going to dance, you need to put your comms down.”

And for once, it seems like he’s successfully managed to ruffle Peter’s feathers. The Master Thief looks rightly shocked, eyes wide and lips parted on what would have once been the opener to his next sentence but is now a silent puff of air. He stares up at Juno and, for only the most fleeting of moments, Juno watches colour rise in his cheeks. It fades as it usually does as Peter collects himself, and Juno watches with a hungry eye as he puts his comms and notebook aside to stand up.

After a minute and a half, Peter’s hand is resting on the small of his back and holding his other hand out, while Juno’s hands are at his shoulder and clasped in his hand. He feels like a princess, being whisked away in a ball, but they haven’t moved a muscle or taken a step. For a moment, they just look at each other, taking each other in. They’re working on it, slowly but surely, and Juno knows what they have is far from perfect and likely won’t be perfect for a long time (or ever, depending on certain things), but he’s happy where he is for this moment. 

“Well,” his breath of a word breaks the silence between the two, “Your lead?”

Peter does that soft laugh again, one that Juno has since learned is about as close to a natural one as he can produce, and he nods. The look in his eyes behind his glasses is something Juno saw first in a tomb a million miles away and something he now sees in stolen moments and happenstances, and it makes his heart grow warm in his chest. He does his best to return it, cheeks warming with the small smile gracing his lips, and he can only hope he’s even remotely successful.

“I suppose it is my lead. If you would?”

With that, Peter leads him in a sweeping, slow waltz around the room, dodging the spare chair and desk as easily as if they were choreographed to be there. But the choreography is all in Peter’s head, somewhere Juno only hopes he is half the time. Juno does his best to keep up, trusting his instincts above most else, and he silently appreciates how Peter keeps the pace slow so it’s just a fraction more intimate than their previous dance.

When Peter dips him, Juno forgets to breathe, and when he pulls him to standing again to find their noses brushing, Juno ceases to breathe entirely.

His heart is loud but dull in his ears, like a distant beating of a great big drum. He wouldn’t be surprised if Peter could hear it from how close they’re both standing. The dance continues, however, and Juno drags a lungful of air in right as he starts to feel lightheaded. They’re dancing, not swimming. He can breathe.

Or, at least, he can breathe for another minute or so, because as soon as that time is up, Peter has lead him in a twirl that would have made anyone blush. Juno finds himself doing so in a way that makes him feel like some virgin maiden who has never left the village, and he looks down when he returns to his proper position in Peter’s arms. The flush in his cheeks is hot, not too hot, but the brush of air over them as the dancers move is blissful. Slowly, Juno teaches himself how to breathe once more. After all, it would be rude to die in your partner’s arms halfway through a dance, right?

Though there may be no music, though there may be no ballroom, though there may be no flowing silky gowns or glistening rhinestone roses, Juno can’t help but feel like the most beautiful thing in the galaxy is happening here. Right here. 

“Nureyev,”

He’s managed to even shock himself.

“I…”

Peter hums. “You…?”

He’s being prompted. Juno swallows and finally looks up at him, making eye contact and nearly losing what he was going to say. Somehow, he manages to hang onto it, and he breathes, “You really know how to make a lady blush, don’t you?”

And once again, that laugh. That damned, thrice-cursed laugh of his. Juno feels weak in the knees, but the hand at his back keeps him steady as they continue to ever so slowly waltz across the floor.

“I certainly do my best, goddess.” Peter murmurs, eyes glittering like someone had crushed all the stars into dust and set them in gems.

“I’d say you’re succeeding.” Juno tilts his head ever so slightly, smile growing ever so slightly closer to being a faint smirk. 

This makes Peter’s eyes sparkle with humour and he whispers, “You’ll have to show me your Martian customs, dear detective. They are so very odd.”

Juno laughs and pulls Peter to a stop and just looks at him for a moment, arms moving to ever so gently loop their ways around the back of Peter’s neck. He just holds him for a moment, taking the chance to just look at him and nothing else, there’s nothing to distract him. This moment, this corner of the present is all theirs and theirs alone. It’s wonderful, to Juno.

If asked who kissed who first, Juno wouldn’t be able to say. 

The kiss is soft, Peter’s lips so perfect and warm against Juno’s, and Juno thinks recklessly to himself that if he was asked to give up the universe tomorrow for a better life, he’d have to say no. All he wants is here, against him, around him. The ship, this ramshackle family, Peter. 

Peter, Peter, _Peter._

When they part, Juno can’t help the soft sigh that escapes him with Peter’s lips. Peter, it seems, feels much the same way, judging by the mirrored sigh.

“My goddess.”

Juno’s heart, fueled by something light, draws his lips up into something very much like a giddy little smile. He kisses Peter again, pulling him down a bit as he rises on his toes to meet him halfway. This one is also soft, the lightest pressing of lips to convey something lighthearted and sweet. It’s just as much of a drug as any other kiss they’ve shared, pulling him higher than anything he’s ever tried in his life.

This time, when they part, Juno is the one to speak.

“My thief.”

Peter laughs _again,_ damn him, and he says, “That hardly sounds as romantic, Juno.”

“You love it anyway, you big moron.” Juno’s smile remains, still bright and warm.

“Perhaps, for every time you insult me, I should call you something horribly, sickeningly sweet.” Peter muses, “Perhaps something like ‘gumdrop,’ or ‘sugarbear,’ or-”

Juno kisses him again to shut him up and Peter laughs against his lips, arms warm at his back.

But this doesn’t last long either, because Juno is laughing again before he can help it and he mumbles, “If you call me something stupid like ‘sugarbear’ around anyone else, you won’t live to hear the end of it.”

Peter barks a laugh and kisses the tip of his nose. “Oh hush, I’m sure the only one who would be doing any killing would be you when Vespa teased you mercilessly for it.”

“Glad to know you have faith in me, Nureyev.” Juno rolls his eyes.

“You really haven’t a clue just how I feel about you, do you?” Peter raises one elegantly drawn eyebrow at him.

This comment warms Juno right down to his toes, but he bites the inside of his cheek and shrugs a little. “Maybe you gotta show me.”

“So demanding.”

“I am a goddess, Nureyev.” Juno teases, “And it’s your fault that that nickname ever sees the light of day.”

“I stand by the nickname, so I suppose I shall be doomed suffer for it.” Peter pretends to be upset for approximately two seconds. But then it breaks and he is already drawing Juno back in for another kiss. And then another. And then another after that.

And with the dance long forgotten, Peter proceeds to kiss him stupid. 

Seems he really does know how to make a lady blush.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the end of the fic!
> 
> If you enjoyed this fic, drop a kudos and maybe a comment telling me what you think! If you want to yell at/with me, you can find me on [twitter,](https://www.twitter.com/RunawayBean_hq) [tumblr,](https://runawaybean.tumblr.com) and my [writing blog.](https://runawaybean.wordpress.com/2020/03/07/microseconds/) And, of course, if you have any questions, then feel free to check out my [curiouscat.](https://curiouscat.me/RunawayBean)
> 
> Thank you again for reading, and I'll see you next time!
> 
> Nero/Cy~


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